Dear Gentle Readers,There's a big treat in store for you today! Kathy Bryson, author of my favorite leprechaun romance novels, like Feeling Lucky and Restless Spirit, has a new and very different short story out. Oh, here, I'll let her tell you all about it...
The Unexpected
Pleasure of the Undead
Thank you, Carol, for having me back on Vision and Verse. I’m always happy to read about people’s creativity here and I’m excited to share my new project. Some were surprised that I’ve switched to zombies because earlier I wrote leprechaun love stories, but actually it’s been a fun transition.
I didn’t deliberately choose a currently popular motif; I just have a co-worker who loves zombie TV. I pointed out the plot was implausible and didn’t adhere to the original mythology, and he said, “Do better!”
Then
a student who knew about my fantasy romances decided to tease the science tutor
saying he needed romance because he was feeling discouraged about applying to
med school. The science tutor laughed and said, “Make it a zombie story.”
All my coworkers weighed in on Giovanni Goes To Med School, offering suggestions and critiques, not to mention proofreading for biological accuracy. Sometimes writing feels very alone, but with my coworkers pushing me on, I didn’t have to fight for time or for that 1st notice when the book launched. Writing this was a blast!
All my coworkers weighed in on Giovanni Goes To Med School, offering suggestions and critiques, not to mention proofreading for biological accuracy. Sometimes writing feels very alone, but with my coworkers pushing me on, I didn’t have to fight for time or for that 1st notice when the book launched. Writing this was a blast!
So
here’s a look inside the 1st of a new novella series that examines
B-movie monsters in the real world alongside jobs, school, and the pressing
need for good coffee. Hope you enjoy
reading it as much as I did putting it together!
About Giovanni Goes To Med School –
You don’t
have to be a medical student to know the dead do not get up and walk around.
Anyone who’s buried a pet in the backyard knows the dead don’t walk. They don’t
even lurch.
The
night-shift in the morgue was supposed to be a chance to study in quiet and
off-set ridiculous student loans. Giovanni is stunned when his patient sits up
and starts scolding. Now he’s got to convince an unbelieving medical community
to take action, so he can get back to learning about the dead – not the undead!
Excerpt –
“New, huh?” Fred scrawled something across
the bottom of the page and handed it back to Giovanni. “Don’t worry about it.
Everybody freaks out at first, but you get used to it.” He waved vaguely at the
back wall with its row after row of file drawers that didn’t hold paper.
“C’mon, I’ll help you put her away this time.”
More grateful than he could ever express,
Giovanni helped Fred maneuver the recalcitrant gurney over to the back wall and
nervously unlocked and opened a square metal door. What looked like a file
drawer was actually one part of a self-contained refrigeration unit. This was a
small morgue according to the manual. Everyone got his or her own drawer, but
shared a central cooling and back up system unlike the county facility where
everyone shared shelf space in a refrigerated room.
Fred had no nervous qualms and instead had
the white cloth whipped off the gurney and the drawer’s metal tray pulled out
in one smooth move. “Okay, you lift the feet and I’ll get the head.”
Giovanni looked down and was surprised. The
white swathed figure on the gurney looked like a load of laundry more than
anything. “It’s so small.”
“Yeah.” Fred carefully angled himself in
between the wall and the head of the gurney.
He gently slid both hands under the figure’s shoulders so its head
rested on his forearms. “Most of the elderly are by the time they pass. Just
wasted away. It’s the fat bastards who die of heart attacks that are a pain. On
the count of three, lift.”
Giovanni hurried to slide his hands under the
figure’s legs and lifted. The body shifted easily to the sliding tray. Fred
stepped back and reaching for the white cloth, began folding it. “Shame
really,” he said, regarding the body solemnly and shaking his head. “Mrs.
Harris was a real nice lady.”
“Wait? Mrs. Harris?” Giovanni’s glance darted
between the still figure and the clipboard of papers he held in one hand. “I
know her. She was in the ER this morning.”
Fred nodded. “Regular customer. Guess this
was her last trip.” He squinted at Giovanni as he put the folded cloth down.
“You okay, son?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course,’ Giovanni pulled
himself together. “I just thought she’d made it. She had a dislocated elbow.”
His mind skittered away from the memory of Mrs. Harris not breathing as she lay
in the ER exam room.
“Well, it happens.” Fred eyed him from
underneath lowered brows, and then shrugged. Apparently he wasn’t going to
concern himself any further as he proceeded to wrestle and curse his gurney
back into the freight elevator. He didn’t even look back or wave as he pressed
the button for an upper floor.
Giovanni did wave, but absently, and hurried
back to the morgue as soon as the freight elevator doors closed. He flipped
urgently through the paperwork on his clipboard, but there were no patient
records included, just blank forms waiting for the morgue manager's signature
to ensure the right body was handed off to the right funeral home. At her age
and in her physical condition, Mrs. Harris wouldn’t merit any attention from
the medical examiner. She was simply an old lady who had passed as everyone did
eventually.
Giovanni sighed and put down the paperwork.
He didn’t see where he could do anything more for Mrs. Harris and the hope that
maybe he’d done enough started to creep up on him. After all, the other, fully
qualified doctors had administered the actual anesthetic. He was probably just
feeling indoctrinated guilt from being raised in a large Catholic, Italian
family.
Dimly in the background, he heard a mournful
howl. Rufus, he thought with an inward eye roll and it didn’t even occur to him
how eerily appropriate it was for the dog to howl just then. Instead, he
reached for a pen and the toe tag on the bundle in front of him, determined to
ensure that Mrs. Harris reached her final rest without mistake.
The toe tag pulled away. Frowning, Giovanni
reached again. The toe tag slid away from him and he watched horrified as the
swathed figure writhed, then sat up. From somewhere behind him, he could hear
frantic barking and a high-pitched wail. When he gasped for breath, he realized
the wail came from him even as the cocooned corpse bent forward and mumbled,
“Sonny, you scream like a girl.”
Giovanni Goes
To Med School is
available on:
Barnes & Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/giovanni-goes-to-med-school-kathy-bryson/1123562758
YouTube trailer - https://youtu.be/PXn4_yzjmxc
About the
Author –
Kathy Bryson knew she wanted to be a writer when she
finished reading through her school and local children’s libraries. She honed
her writing skills on marketing brochures, websites, and several unfinished
manuscripts before going into teaching. Now she happily skews convention while
finishing award-winning books and catering to the whims of spoiled cats.
Author Links –
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/kathybryson22
Twitter - https://twitter.com/kathybryson2
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